High Caves of Um Na Sha

By Paula Merensuo

An old and shabby cargo cruiser named Shannon zigzags her endless journey through a galaxy, not exactly like ours. Young “garbage guy” Blaze loves to fly, no matter how tedious and dirty are his daily chores. Shannon’s First Mate, strict but fair Breit, recognized him as his mate when he saw Blaze the very first time. But Blaze doesn’t swing that way. Their relationship goes on slowly, awkwardly, painfully, but to what end, no one can tell.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paula Merensuo
• Release date: Apr 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9789526809328

Paula Merensuo

A teller of twisted stories.

Book preview

High Caves of Um Na Sha

by Paula Merensuo

Copyright 2015 by Paula Merensuo

Smashwords Edition 2015

Edited by Andrej Schütz

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ISBN 978-952-68093-2-8

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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, recording, photocopying, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

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Chapter 1

Ice cold water flows with tremendous force in a rabid sending bone white froth and mist flying around huge, sharp-edged rocks, which threaten to rip our rubber raft open like a children’s toy. R’een’s slender arms tense when she wields her paddle desperately trying to evade those sharp-teethed monsters seemingly reaching for us. And then, all of a sudden, she falls over the side of the raft; she is there now and in the next moment there is only churning water to be seen and I remember how I scream her name, not remembering that she’s an amphibian who couldn’t drown, and I can’t do anything because...

Daydreaming again, huh, Blaze? Nutty, from the other side of our table.

No, he is just sleeping with his eyes open. Xanny. She took a chair by my side and sat down, nudging my ribs with her sharp elbow. What are you thinking, Blaze, looking so severe? she asked, ripping her tea can open.

I shrugged. Nothing. I just...remembered something that happened back on Gauria. When I was down there with First.

You haven’t told us too much about it, have you? Xanny asked. Damn how beautiful she was. And her voice was beautiful, too. Soft, melodic...I had to pull myself back to the real world, back from the memories and dreams and... It was nothing, I mumbled.

Xanny let me feel her elbow again. Don’t be such a...a...

An idiot, helped Nutty, smiling with all his broad, good-natured face.

Dumbass, corrected Xanny. Mr. Mysterious Tight Arse.

We laughed at that. Why wouldn’t you ask First to tell you about it? I mean, he was down there, too.

Xanny made face. He is even worse than you, you know. He smiles and nods and says nothing. Her pretty face flushed slightly. By then I knew she had feelings towards First, Shannon’s First Mate, having seen how she looked at him. I looked at her often exactly the same way. And so did all of us. Except perhaps Chief Engineer Lidy, and Celia, a female handyman. And Johey, who disliked females.

Speaking of arses, Nutty said, where are your brothers-in-arms, Many and Darek?

I shrugged. When I left our cabin, they were arguing over who knows what. I guess they’ll come over as soon as they have managed to take blood samples out of their noses. Normally it seems to cool down their temper.

That bad? laughed Nutty.

Nah, not really. I drained the last drops of my tea and prepared to stood up, but Xanny grasped my arm. Wait a sec, she said, I’d like to ask you something.

Shoot.

Not here, I...Would you pop in my cabin this evening, after work? At seven hundred or so?

I stared at her. My eyes were maybe bulging out of their sockets, because she looked a bit awkward. From behind the table Nutty eyed us curiously. Sure...Why not? I shrugged. I mean, if I can get it done. Sometimes Buller gives us a hard time with all the chores.

She nodded. I’ve noticed that much. Well, if you could do it, I’d be happy. She stood up and strolled away from the mess. Nutty and I gawked at her slender figure vanishing through the door. Damn how pretty she was. Then Nutty turned his attention to me, raising his brows. What was that? Has she just made a move on you, Blaze?

Who made a move on Blaze? Many. Behind him came Darek, looking, as always, hideous.

Our beautiful Navigator, Nutty said, smiling. Believe it or not.

Many eyed me doubtfully and more than a bit darkly. I knew very well that he had an affair going on with Xanny. Why not? If Xanny was beautiful, so was Many. And he knew it very well. There was not a woman in the whole world who could resist his charm. I’ve heard these words coming out right of the horse’s mouth.

Are you going to be jealous? I asked him. He shrugged but his look was not at all nice or bright. There’s going to be trouble was written all over his handsome face.

What did she say to you? Many asked me. He went to the NutriMats to grab something for breakfast. Darek already had a plate under his nose.

Not much, I said. She wants me to pop in her place tonight.

For what? Many asked angrily. I stood up and went to shove my dishes in the recycling slot of the NutriMats. I don’t know, she didn’t say. Probably she wants to hear my stories about Gauria.

Gauria my ass, Many snapped. He grabbed his fork and viciously stabbed a bit of an ugly looking lump of breakfast jelly wobbling on his plate.

Wolf it down quickly, I said. We’re late. Buller’ll get his pants in a knot.

Speaking of the devil. Elevator door slid open and our boss, Supply Officer Buller, stormed in. He looked fed up. In his hand was a tablet, lots of red notes on it, as always.

What are you loitering for here all the morning? he barked at us.

Is there something urgent on your task list, Sir? I asked sweetly. He eyed me angrily.

Yes, there is! First says there is dirt in the cargo hold A3. You definitely didn’t clean it thoroughly after loading!

I asked, Dirt? Like soil?

I don’t know, Buller snapped. I just repeat what First said to me.

Bullshit, grumbled Darek. Buller turned sharply to him. But before our boss had the time to open his mouth again, Many said: Yeah, First himself checked it all and said it was okay.

Buller reddened and opened and closed his mouth for a while. Be as it is, he managed to burst out at last, just go and clean it again! And when it is done – and make sure it is done well enough – go to the engine room, there is something they need extra hands for.

Yes, Sir, we mumbled, and Buller rushed back to the elevator. He was, as always, all speed and fury. I wondered sometimes how he still managed to look so neatly pimped up and broomed. Every hair on his head was in its place, and his parting was as straight as a runway. Perhaps even straighter. His uniform was pressed so it was crying for mommy, and I could have sworn he didn’t even sweat. Ever. He was a demanding boss and he kept driving us around as if we were some sort of slaves, but he wasn’t too bad; pedantic, yes, but not petty.

We took the elevator down to the cargo area and went to the hold A3. It was the smallest of the holds on the starboard side of Shannon. It was not full, there were boxes made of some material resembling plastic stacked on both sides of the hold, so there was an aisle between those stacks. Boxes were fastened to each other with latches, and to the ceilings with ship’s fastening devices. The boxes were small, about 3 feet per side. There came in different colors, blue, red, and yellowish white.

And there were something on the deck.

We stared at it, frowning. We knew we had cleaned the hold very well after loading on Pelt Amon, and First, whose duty was to keep the cargo on eye, had checked it after we’d finished our job. He was satisfied by our work, we knew it, too. And yet there was something on the deck, something like...I squatted down to check it. It was sand. Or something that looked like sand.

What the fuck? Darek.

Can’t believe my eyes. Many.

They looked at me expectantly. I looked back at them and shrugged.

We must clean this mess away, I said. But perhaps it is a wise move for us to take a sample of this stuff, whatever it is. I wonder if you guys happen to have something to put it in?

They exchanged looks, and after a moment of hesitation Darek produced a hanky from his pocket and handed it to me. It was not a too clean piece of a rag. I took it, spread it on the floor and scooped up a handful of sand, dropped it on the rag, wrapped it around the stuff and pocketed the bundle. Darek went to our storeroom to bring us CleanoMat, the universal cleaning machine, and I checked the hold with Many for another dirty stuff, but we didn’t find anything. When Darek returned with Clenny and the other thingumies needed, we swept loose dirt away, binned it and put the machine on to clean away all that was left on the deck.

Now tell me what was that thing you had with Xanny in the mess, Many said when we were squatting by ceiling and waiting for CleanoMat to do its job.

I shrugged. It was nothing. She just asked if I could visit to her cabin tonight.

And you said yes?

Sure. I like her. If she wants me to... I let it pass away.

Many’s handsome face darkened again. You know we...that she and I are...friends.

Are you saying no one can be her friend but you? My voice was maybe a bit sharper than I meant it to be.

Darek frowned. Hey guys, she can take whomever she wishes to. And leave him, too. She’s a woman and an officer.

Yes, we knew it, didn’t we?

And remember, lads, she is not Bylla.

We shared a shudder, because we remembered Bylla Thusek all too well. She was a nasty and deadly poisonous snake for a woman, cold blooded manipulator and meaner than a wounded wiskbull, the most dangerous animal in the whole galaxy. She was Xanny’s predecessor, and the day that took her away from Shannon was our lucky day. Everything that happened down on Thun and Gauria was her doing. Yes, we had no reason to cherish her remembrance.

If she...I mean, Xanny...surely we could share, couldn’t we? I said.

Many was gritting his teeth. He was silent for long time, and nodded. We have nothing to say or do about it. It is...up to her.

Darek and I agreed. It definitely was up to women to decide with whom they wanted to be friends or whatever.

We sat there for a while, watching how CleanoMat did its job, and my thoughts wandered lazily around Xanny. In cargo cruisers there were not very often situations to consort with womenfolk. We had three of them in Shannon now, Lidy, and Xanny, both officers, and Celia, a handyman. They were all nice and decent people. I have always got along very well with Lidy, whom I respected very much, and Celia, who was frank and fair and friendly. But they were just friends, nothing more, and I had never felt anything but friendship for them. This Xanny, on the other hand...I felt something different for her, something thrilling and, yes, hot. She was hot and beautiful and sweet and curvy but not too voluptuous. She had mink brown hair tumbling down over her slender shoulders and her lips–

Blaze. Dared slapped me on my upper arm. Wake up. Clenny has done it. Besides, you looked stupid. What were you musing about?

I stood up. Nothing in particular. I noticed Many eyeing me doubtfully. Okay, if it’s done, let’s go down to the engine room. They are desperately waiting for as for now, I guess.

Shouldn’t we report this as done to First? asked Darek.

Nope, I said. It’s not our job to report him anything.

To tell the truth, I didn’t want to see him, because...I couldn’t say exactly why not. I just didn’t want him to look at me with those weird bronze-colored eyes so full of warmth and affection. I didn’t want anyone to notice it, definitely not Many and Darek.

We took CleanoMat and returned it to its own place in the storeroom, where we had all our brooms and machines and whatnot needed in our cleaning duties, stored and carefully tied up. Shannon used to kick around sometimes so it was wise to prevent things from flying around when there were those rougher moments in our journeys around the galaxy.

When all was done, we rode the elevator down to the engine room for the next task.

Chapter 2

What it is that you want of me, Xanny? I sat on a divan in her cabin and looked at her. I was tired, my day had been long and difficult so far. In the engine room we had helped Nutty, who was an apprentice engineer, and two of Shannon’s handymen, Petar and Gren, to dismantle some big, ugly and dirty machine, I didn’t know what it was, I only knew it consisted of millions of little and very dirty pieces. We cleaned them all and put together again. Nutty did all the dismantling and combining job, though, the rest of us just got ourselves dirty, sweaty, and irritated by the tedious job in a hot and noisy engine room. Being an ancient space ship in these modern times, Shannon had an engine room that was hot and noisy, contrary to the newest models, where you couldn’t hear a whisper of noise in their sparkly clean engine rooms.

The atmosphere around us in the engine room was unpleasant. Petar and Gren argued all the time about some stupid thing, I couldn’t figure out what, and Many stabbed me every now and then with his icy, dubious gaze. Even Nutty was not as jovial as normally. He looked somehow crestfallen, but when I asked why, what had happened, he just shrugged. The engineer on duty, Vraat Bayn, hovered around, keeping an eye on us, looking pissed off. After the job was finished and we were ushered away from the engine room, it took us ages to get ourselves cleaned of the sticky goo we had scraped away from those little pieces of the machine that was unknown to us.

And now I sat on Xanny’s divan, feeling confused but hopeful. I hoped she could come to sit next to me on the divan